Israel on the rampage despite widespread condemnation

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September 26, 2025

Israel on the rampage

by Pete Brown, Detroit Workers’ Voice

The headline from an al-Jazeera news item (1) caught my attention this past week: “Israel has attacked six countries in the past 72 hours.” Wow, I thought, that must break some record for aggression, even for the Nazis of World War II. But is it really true? So I perused the article, and here is the list:

1. Gaza. Well, of course: Israel continues to pound Gaza City into dust, blowing up high-rise buildings and forcing the residents to flee.

2. Lebanon: Israel agreed to an armistice in Lebanon last November, but since then has carried out raids nearly every day. These are not reported in Western media, mostly, but Israel goes on breaking the ceasefire multiple times a week. The latest incursion involved bombing raids in northern Lebanon that killed five people.

3. Syria: Israel continues to raid Syrian government military installations, trying to defang the Syrian military so it cannot be used against Israel. This is unprovoked, since the new Syrian government has not made any threatening gestures against Israel.

4. Yemen: Israeli jets pounded the Houthi capital, Sanaa, including the airport. This has become a regular occurrence since August 28, when Israeli bombs killed the Houthi prime minister.

5. Qatar: Israel bombed the living and working headquarters of Palestinian Hamas officials in the Qatari capital, Doha. Qatar only agreed to host the Hamas officials at the request of the U.S., which wanted a safe neutral place where Hamas officials could formulate a negotiating position. But now Israel has blown up the Hamas officials’ safe space, killing five of their officials, including the son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya. Hence they also blew up any chance at a negotiated peace in Gaza and any chance of getting hostages back alive. The U.S. has been promoting these negotiations as the road to peace for the last two years, but Netanyahu has pushed that aside in favor of all-out, unending war.

6. Tunisia. The international aid flotilla for Gaza docked in Tunisia before making the final push toward Gaza. But overnight, Israeli aircraft attacked their flagship boat.

Israel is definitely on a rampage. Israel also attacked Iran just a few weeks ago, so we could add Iran as number seven in the list of countries recently attacked. It’s pretty amazing that the UN, which is supposed to be an organization formed to halt aggression, allows one of its members to launch attacks on seven of its other members with hardly a word of protest. Saddam Hussein of Iraq attacked only one country, Kuwait, and made himself the target of a major UN-approved war.

The latest atrocity[/b]

Israel’s latest reported atrocity is the massacre of a Lebanese-American family. Yesterday another Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed a resident of Dearborn, Michigan and most of his family. (2) Shadi Charara, a car dealer in Dearborn, had returned to Lebanon to help family members apply for visas to join him in the United States. While driving home from a family gathering, their car was hit by an Israeli missile. Mr. Charara was killed, along with his twin baby children and an older daughter. Public memorials are being organized in Dearborn as well as in Lebanon. Mr. Charara and his family had no known connections to Hezbollah or any other political group. Asked for the reason why this occurred, Israeli officials say they will investigate sometime. The White House, asked for a comment, refused to answer. Donald Trump cries his heart out for the death of political operative Charlie Kirk, but cannot spare a tear for twin baby children. And Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza City goes on in full swing so that Donald Trump will have room for his planned Trump Riviera.

How can this go on?

Most people in the world can see what’s going on in Gaza and react in horror. How is this allowed to continue? UN officials have uttered many words of complaint about the situation, and a recent UN report condemned Israeli actions as genocide. But the only UN body that can take effective action is the Security Council controlled by major imperialist powers that have their own interests in supporting and defending Israel. The U.S., in the first place, uses Israel as a launching pad for controlling oil resources and shipping in the Mideast. They also use Israel as a base for suppression of any revolutionary movements in the Mideast. England and France have their own histories with Israel, first supporting its establishment and then supporting it in different wars. Russia, as well, has a history of meddling in the Mideast, sometimes supporting both Israel and its Arab enemies. Russia of late was a major supporter of the Assad regime in Syria, which talked a lot about Israel as its enemy but aimed its actual firepower against revolutionaries in Syria.

On the occasion of the latest UN General Assembly meeting in New York, a number of countries have decided to announce recognition of the state of Palestine. This includes Britain, Canada, Australia, Portugal, and France. Recognizing Palestine is quite a different stand than that of the U.S., which insists that before recognition can come, a Palestinian state organization must first make peace with Israel. (3) But this requires, in the first place, Israel making peace with the Palestinians; and Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu has made it clear that is not on the agenda any time soon. First, he plans to completely clear Gaza City of any inhabitants, ethnically cleansing a large city of over one million residents. Netanyahu’s coalition partners are then urging him to annex the entire West Bank while withholding the status of Israeli citizenship from its Palestinian inhabitants. As part of the process, they urge him to do away with the Palestinian Authority, the semi-state organization that has been responsible for local self-government in the West Bank. (4)

While the U.S. is staunchly defending Israel’s war against the Palestinians, some of the European powers are taking a more measured approach. They advise Israel to take it easy on the people of Gaza, to allow more food aid to enter Gaza, and advocate a revival of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians. Some, such as Spain, Belgium and Ireland, have also passed laws restricting trade with Israel, limiting its access to arms and military materiel. But so far, at least, the major powers have rejected any measures of boycott, divestment or sanctions. This puts a sharp limit on the meaning of their recognition of Palestine. Germany, Israel’s largest European trading partner, has not agreed to any BDS measures, nor has it recognized Palestine. So the significance of the European move toward recognition is largely symbolic. (5)

BRICS continue trade with Israel

Worldwide, Israel is growing more and more isolated. Over 140 countries have so far recognized Palestine. But this has not so far translated into action that puts serious pressure on Israel. This is true of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and others) as well. (6) South Africa, for instance, criticizes Israeli military aggression and even brought the case against Israel to the UN, charging Israel with genocide. Nonetheless, South Africa continues to supply Israel with coal. Russia sends oil, and China provides Israel with a variety of manufactured goods. All of these countries utter words of criticism of Israeli genocide but continue trading with Israel. India, under the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, has given up any criticism of Israel as it maintains a lively weapons trade with Israel. Trade is the lifeblood of the Israeli economy. Since that is being maintained, Netanyahu and his crew feel they can tough it out, and Netanyahu threatens revenge against any countries that turn against him.

The need for working-class solidarity

International bodies like the UN have failed to ensure Palestinian liberation for the past century, and that continues despite the movement toward formal recognition of the state of Palestine. What’s needed is for ordinary working people the world over who are appalled by the genocide in Gaza to step up and organize to put pressure on Israel. Besides the huge political demonstrations, workers are beginning to apply immediate action. Dock workers throughout Italy have been joining demonstrations and are now striking against ports that handle exports to Israel. (7) Dock workers in Greece have also refused to touch shipments of military-grade steel to Israel. (8) Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli firm that produces generic drugs, is facing boycotts from European doctors because of their support for the Israeli military and their refusal to help the people of Gaza. The European football (soccer) association is discussing whether to ban Israeli teams, which prominent athletes are calling for. India’s prime minister Modi is facing increasing criticism from opposition political parties for his friendliness toward Israel. Even some Democratic Party politicians in the U.S. are now calling for a cutoff of military hardware to Israel. This is a big change from the Democrats’ historical knee-jerk total support for Israel. Such a change only occurs because the Democrats are beginning to feel the groundswell of disgust with Israeli aggression as popular groups organize to press for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel. Governments in Europe and elsewhere have been very slow to react against the genocide in Gaza, but the movement is picking up steam, and politicians are beginning to feel the heat.

Notes

1. Marium Ali and Alia Chughtai, “Maps: Israel has attacked six countries in the past 72 hours”. MSN from al-Jazeera, September 11, 2025. https://www.msn.com/en-us/war-and-confl ... r-AA1MhLP0 .

2. CBS News and AP News, “3 children and their father, a car dealer, killed in Israeli strike while driving home in Lebanon” CBS News, September 23, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/children-f ... e-lebanon/ .

3. Steve Hendrix, “U.K., Canada, Australia recognize Palestine as a state, breaking with U.S. The three major U.S. allies reversed decades of unwillingness to accept Palestinians as a sovereign nation until their conflict with Israel was settled. Washington Post, September 21, 2025. h[url]ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/21 ... te-israel/[/url] .

4. Alon Rom and Claire Parker, “Netanyahu vows retaliation ahead of more Palestine recognitions at U.N. As France and Saudi Arabia convene a summit to renew the push for a two-state solution, the Israeli leader said, ‘A Palestinian state will not be established.’” Washington Post, September 22, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... un-israel/ .

5. Jeanna Smialek, “Europe talks big on Gaza but struggles to act: Even as criticism of Israel ramps up and a growing number of countries say they’ll recognize a Palestinian state, concrete actions remain limited.” New York Times, September 22, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/worl ... srael.html .

6. Eric Toussaint, "Why are the BRICS countries not condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza?" Links, August 28, 2025. https://links.org.au/why-are-brics-coun ... ocide-gaza .

7. AhlulBayt News Agency, “Italian dockworkers strike across ports in solidarity with Palestinians”. ABNA English, September 23, 2025. https://en.abna24.com/news/1730124/Ital ... lestinians .

8. Oscar Rickett, “Greek dock workers will refuse to unload Israel’s ‘murderous cargo’: The military-grade steel cargo on board the Ever Golden was set to be transferred to a ship owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund before being taken to Israel”. DeepNewz, July 8, 2025, updated September 19, 2025. https://deepnewz.com/greece/greek-dock- ... t-2efcafdd .

PIcture: Protesting the devastation of Gaza, Italian Dockworkers blocked the port in Genoa on Monday, September 22, 2025, https://media.abna24.com/d/2025/09/23/4 ... 8604346000 .